BY BRIAN GOSSET
X – @Gosset41
FORT WORTH – A new era in Texas high school volleyball began on Monday night across the state as the playoffs got underway. The UIL decided over the summer that every team sport will mirror the football playoffs this school year.
Meaning…that the volleyball postseason goes down from seven to six matches with a Division 1 and Division 2 split based on enrollment sizes. Southlake Carroll and Boswell met at Boswell in the D2 bracket and Carroll played a near perfect game, winning 25-12, 25-10, 25-17.
Carroll (26-10), which finished third place in 4-6A, will play El Paso Eastwood or San Angelo Central in the area round later this week. Eastwood and Central face off on Tuesday night.
“The girls did a good job coming into tonight having a good time, but also staying focus and executing our game plan,” SLC coach Leslie Jackson said. “It helps they play tough teams night in and night out so coming in with a tough Boswell team – another tough game, but equally as tough as all the matches we’ve played this season.”
The Dragons scored the first five points in both the first and second sets.
Back to back kills from MB Morse and Layla Austin pushed the Carroll lead to 6-1. The lead extended to 10-2 off two more kills from Austin, who is committed to San Diego State. Austin finished the night with a game high 14 kills while hitting 0.462 along with 17 digs.
Morse chipped in 11 kills on a 0.400 clip.
“Me and setter Parker Tuttle have a good connection playing together plus having that really good friendship and bond just really helps us,” Morse said.
The lead continued to grow to double digits and then 19-8 off points by Morse and TCU committed middle blocker Kinsley Young, which led to Boswell’s second timeout.
Another 5-0 and 6-1 start in the second set was sparked by a solo block from Morse, who finished with three blocks on the night. The lead ballooned to 8-1 and 15-5 as the Pioneers had trouble all match finding a groove on offense.
Abby Huddleston’s solo block pushed it to 24-10 and a hitting error by Boswell on set point gave the Dragons a 25-10 win and 2-0 edge. Austin’s kill gave Carroll a 7-2 advantage in the third set, but Boswell made a push.
Five of seven points cut the deficit to 12-11 – led with kills by Prairie View A&M commit Camille Middleton and digs by Weatherford College commit Alena Lopez.
However, Young and Morse led to three in a row for Carroll and Young scored on a dynamic birthday ball off the over pass and it was 17-11 Dragons.
The Pioneers finish the year 21-16 and runner up in 3-6A.
They played for a co-district championship on the final day of the regular season. The match was also the final one for head coach Rafael Lopez.
Young added 11 kills and hit 0.667 for Carroll.
Addisyn Kennedy posted 19 digs.
Middleton led Boswell with 10 kills. She added 10 digs and Lopez led the team with 15 digs.
